How to ask for help
Here is some recommended information to include when asking for help in the health clinic forum. By providing this information, you will receive more accurate and beneficial responses. It might not be necessary to answer all these questions, but the more you provide the better. Please remember that even the most knowledgeable person can only guess at what your problem may be. Only an experienced reptile veterinarian who can directly examine your animal can give a true diagnosis of your chameleon's health.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - She is a female Jackson's Chameleon, a little over a year old. I have had her for about 2-3 months. When I first got her, she was a year old.
Handling - Almost never.
Feeding - I feed my chameleon crickets gutloaded with turnip greens and apples. I recently figured out they need a wide variety of insects, so I fed some superworms to her. She didnt eat them. I feed her every other day.
Supplements - I use cal-stron calcium. It is pure calcium, with a tiny bit of strontium ( which I guess builds bones). I use that once a week. I have reptivite which has D3, phosphorus, and calcium. I use that roughly every month and a half to 2 months.
Watering - I tried making a dripper, but they all dont work for some reason. I am hoping to get a little dripper by zoo med soon. Otherwise, I spray her, and I am getting a fogger, which she could get drips of water from that. I have never seen her drink, so I guess she drinks when I am not there.
Fecal Description - The feces is a dark brown. The urate is white, sometimes with tad of yellow in it but not much. Sometimes it is purely white. She has never been tested for parasites in my care.
History - She was at a family run pet store that is local in my town. She seemed very healthy.
Cage Info: Just got her a new enclosure a few days ago. It used to be a glass 18x18x24.
Cage Type - She is now in an 18x18x36 screen cage. She is in a large "reptibreeze" by zoo med.
Lighting - Lights go on from 7:30 AM until 9:30 PM. I use an Exo Terra 5.0 UVB. It is in a coil bulb. Her vision seems fine, despite what people say about how the coil bulbs blind the animals. I also have a 50 watt repti glow UVA basking bulb. I use to have a 40 watt but the basking spot was only 75 degrees.
Temperature - My ambient temps usually stay in between 72-76 degrees. The hottest I have ever seen it was 78 degrees, but that was because it was over 100 degrees outside. The basking spot is about 80-83 degrees. The hottest I have ever seen it was 85. I use digital thermometers, by the way. t night, it is in the mid to high 60s, sometimes the low 70s like 70-71.
Humidity - My hygrometer says it is 70%, but sometimes it feels dryer than that. I currently spray the cage with a hand mister, but I am getting a live pothos plant and am also going to make a homemade fogger. Thatshould bump up the humidity. I use an analouge hygrometer.
Plants - I mostly have fake foliage, but I am getting one live pothos today.
Placement - The cage is in my bedroom, which is very peaceful. She is very far away from windows and all of my other reptiles. I also put up towels so she cant see my other herps. I am only in there, so it is very quiet.
Location - Central Connecticut.
Current Problem - I recently got her in a new cage. I havent seen her poop since the move. She only ate 1 cricket since then, too. She tries to get them, but then she only gets a leg or something. Today she wouldn't even look at any until I fed her several different ones, and then she ate one. She doesnt look underweight though, she still looks pretty chunky, which is a good thing. She also stays at the bottom of her cage, hugging a specific plant. I dont know why. and I provide her with plenty of foliage. Maybe she will go to the top when I put in the pothos?
Here is some recommended information to include when asking for help in the health clinic forum. By providing this information, you will receive more accurate and beneficial responses. It might not be necessary to answer all these questions, but the more you provide the better. Please remember that even the most knowledgeable person can only guess at what your problem may be. Only an experienced reptile veterinarian who can directly examine your animal can give a true diagnosis of your chameleon's health.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - She is a female Jackson's Chameleon, a little over a year old. I have had her for about 2-3 months. When I first got her, she was a year old.
Handling - Almost never.
Feeding - I feed my chameleon crickets gutloaded with turnip greens and apples. I recently figured out they need a wide variety of insects, so I fed some superworms to her. She didnt eat them. I feed her every other day.
Supplements - I use cal-stron calcium. It is pure calcium, with a tiny bit of strontium ( which I guess builds bones). I use that once a week. I have reptivite which has D3, phosphorus, and calcium. I use that roughly every month and a half to 2 months.
Watering - I tried making a dripper, but they all dont work for some reason. I am hoping to get a little dripper by zoo med soon. Otherwise, I spray her, and I am getting a fogger, which she could get drips of water from that. I have never seen her drink, so I guess she drinks when I am not there.
Fecal Description - The feces is a dark brown. The urate is white, sometimes with tad of yellow in it but not much. Sometimes it is purely white. She has never been tested for parasites in my care.
History - She was at a family run pet store that is local in my town. She seemed very healthy.
Cage Info: Just got her a new enclosure a few days ago. It used to be a glass 18x18x24.
Cage Type - She is now in an 18x18x36 screen cage. She is in a large "reptibreeze" by zoo med.
Lighting - Lights go on from 7:30 AM until 9:30 PM. I use an Exo Terra 5.0 UVB. It is in a coil bulb. Her vision seems fine, despite what people say about how the coil bulbs blind the animals. I also have a 50 watt repti glow UVA basking bulb. I use to have a 40 watt but the basking spot was only 75 degrees.
Temperature - My ambient temps usually stay in between 72-76 degrees. The hottest I have ever seen it was 78 degrees, but that was because it was over 100 degrees outside. The basking spot is about 80-83 degrees. The hottest I have ever seen it was 85. I use digital thermometers, by the way. t night, it is in the mid to high 60s, sometimes the low 70s like 70-71.
Humidity - My hygrometer says it is 70%, but sometimes it feels dryer than that. I currently spray the cage with a hand mister, but I am getting a live pothos plant and am also going to make a homemade fogger. Thatshould bump up the humidity. I use an analouge hygrometer.
Plants - I mostly have fake foliage, but I am getting one live pothos today.
Placement - The cage is in my bedroom, which is very peaceful. She is very far away from windows and all of my other reptiles. I also put up towels so she cant see my other herps. I am only in there, so it is very quiet.
Location - Central Connecticut.
Current Problem - I recently got her in a new cage. I havent seen her poop since the move. She only ate 1 cricket since then, too. She tries to get them, but then she only gets a leg or something. Today she wouldn't even look at any until I fed her several different ones, and then she ate one. She doesnt look underweight though, she still looks pretty chunky, which is a good thing. She also stays at the bottom of her cage, hugging a specific plant. I dont know why. and I provide her with plenty of foliage. Maybe she will go to the top when I put in the pothos?
